Even, literally “and” or “also,” marks the beginning of a further consequence of the argument in verses 12-13. Good News Bible expresses this Greek word by “More than that.”

We are … found to be: this Greek verb is often used in speaking of the results of examination in a law court or some similar situation. One may also render this phrase as “it will be evident that we” or “it will also show that we.” The following words misrepresenting God confirm that Paul is thinking for the moment in legal terms.

Misrepresenting is literally “false witnesses.” This is an unusual noun that is related to the Greek verb for “bearing false witness,” used in the Ten Commandments in the Septuagint of Exo 20.16 and Deut 5.20 (verse 17 in Hebrew); compare Mark 10.19 and parallels in Matt 26.60. Paul is not thinking about lying in general; he is comparing Christian preaching with giving witness in a court of law.

Most translations agree generally with Good News Bible‘s translation, “lying about God.” Phillips expands to “we are lying in our witness for God.” However, the Greek preposition translated “about” in Good News Bible often means “against,” especially in legal contexts. So in the present verse Arndt-Gingrich translates “give testimony in contradiction to God.” The meaning of the whole clause would therefore be “What we have said in our preaching is proved to be the opposite of what God was doing.” The rest of the verse would explain in what respect this was so.

We testified is literally “we witnessed,” continuing the metaphor of the law court.

The clause if it is true is a dependent clause in grammar. However, it represents a step back in the argument and may be better expressed as a separate sentence; for example, “However, if it is true that the dead are not raised to life, then God did not raise Christ,” or in languages that do not favor the passive, one could say “… that the dead do not receive life, then God did not raise Christ.”

The dead are not raised: see the comment on verse 12.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .